Blog 1 - Dieuwerke Luiten - March 2009

Reflections after the Northern Preparation meeting for The Moshi Dialogue on International Relationships - March 2009

During the preparatory session, we focussed on dimensions in relations. There are so many dimensions to international relationships between organisations. Analysing these dimensions made me wonder how the Southern participants see “us” and how they perceive these dimensions. Three issues keep coming to mind.

Trust
What is the impact of applying strict quantitative monitoring and evaluation tools to our Southern partners? It could be perceived as a sign of distrust. As Northern partners we often literally re-apply the strict reporting conditions of our back donor to our Southern partners without really openly discussing them. Isn’t reporting a joint responsibility? The Dutch Council for Refugees is a relative newcomer to the international field. We are looking for more participatory ways to monitor the work of our partners. We have never really had an open discussion with our partners about the link between M&E and distrust. I hope that after this Moshi dialogue we will be aware enough to put the relation itself on the agenda and makes this the subject of reflection.

Sustainability

The Dutch Council for Refugees supports local refugee-assisting organisations. We don’t open field offices but build and support local capacity. The humanitarian aid sector is dominated by international NGO’s. There is so little attention to building local capacity. This makes aid vulnerable and dependant as international humanitarian NGO’s might shift their resources to another country when there is a more urgent humanitarian need. It makes me wonder what the preference for opening field offices instead of building local capacity says about relationships in the humanitarian sector.

Ownership
As a northern NGO’s you tend to communicate simple and clear messages. For fundraising for example we speak of 'our projects' to our (private) donors. In reality we only support local projects that are owned by the people who implement the work on the ground. The Dutch Council for Refugees always speaks of “common” projects. A simplification for the sake of fundraising should not change the way we see our supportive role as Northern partners. And ultimately... the relations we maintain with Southern partners.

Dieuwerke Luiten, participant on behalf the Dutch Council for Refugees
(VluchtelingenWerk Nederland)  in a personal capacity.